With only one of the three football champions in Mayo picking up provincial honours this year, it is all down to the Ballyhaunis hurlers to keep the Mayo flag flying in the Connacht club championship. On Sunday JP Coen’s side will make the trip to Athleague to take on Pádraig Pearse’s from Galway in the Connacht intermediate final.
The east Mayo men made it to the final last year also before bowing out to another Galway side Tynagh-Abbet/Duniry, and this year they will be looking to make up for that disappointment. They have already seen off the challenge to Roscommon champions Four Rounds in the semi-final a few weeks ago while Pádraig Pearse’s beat Killimor in the Galway decider last weekend. The 1-10 to 1-8 win over Killimor in Athenry last Sunday has sealed the Galway side’s pace in the Galway senior championship next year. Tom Flannery was their scorer in chief landing six points over the hour, five of them from placed balls, while Cyril Donnellan chipped in with 1-1 from his centre half forward berth.
In Ballyhaunis’s last outing against Four Roads in the semi-final the men in black and red were made to fight right until the final minute before they came out on the right side of 3-13 to 2-13 to win in Athleague. Keith Higgins was the main man for Ballyhaunis chipping in with 1-7 of his side’s total, while Stephen Hoban contributed 1-2 of Ballyhaunis’s 3-13.
Having tasted defeat in last year’s final Ballyhaunis are keen to make amends for that disappointment. Manager JP Coen thinks that his side will be well up for the task. “Last year the final passed us by a bit before we even got into it, we sort of stood around and admired the other sides’ hurlers, you can’t do that against a good quality Galway side.” While Coen was happy that his side managed to see off the challenge of Four Roads in the semi final, there was plenty room for improvement that Ballyhaunis had to work on in the weeks in between according to Coen. “We got ourselves in a great position to kill the game off when we were nine points up, but we took our foot off the gas a bit and they pulled us back in. We can’t do that on Sunday against a good Galway side, so we’ve been working hard on keeping the concentration up and keeping the ball moving.”
Coen has his homework done on the Galway champions having watched them twice in the past few weeks. “I was at the final on Sunday and also went to see them in action in the semi final down in Ballinasloe,” he said. “They are a good tidy side who have plenty about them and the likes of Cyril Donnellan will be a big threat that we will have to counteract. We have to keep him quiet and try and cut of the supply of ball getting into him.”
With Ballyhaunis having been at the top of Mayo hurling tree for the past number of years, making the break through on the provincial level is something that they have been looking to do over the past number of years. “When I came in first three years ago it was something we talked about, we have won a good few Mayo titles but we wanted to make our mark outside of the county. It will be great for us if we can win a provincial title and have a knock on effect for the county as a whole. We need to be progressing against better opposition to keep the game growing in the county, things went a bit backwards this year on a county level after two really good years. The lads who play for Mayo aren’t going to be happy playing in division three of the league and the Nicky Rackard Cup, they want to be playing against better opposition and in bigger competitions. If we win on Sunday it will give the county side a great push forward for next year also.”
Facing up against a Galway club side in a provincial final is not an easy task for a hurling team from Mayo, but Coen is confident that his side have what it takes to beat them and hopefully go further. “We’ve been working hard, there’s a good buzz about the game, and we are injury free which is a huge boost too. We know that we have what it takes to win on Sunday and go on further.” In an interesting sidebar to the game as a whole, Ballyhaunis star man Keith Higgins, who will be lining out at centre half forward, will face off against a very familiar face wearing the number six shirt for Pádraig Pearse’s, his first cousin Tomás, and Coen is expecting an interesting battle to develop. “Well Keith is a top class player everyone knows that, and it’ll be a good tussle between the two. I was impressed with Tomás, he’s neat and tidy and does the simple things right and keeps doing them. I’m sure the two lads will enjoy facing down each other on Sunday.”
Connacht intermediate club hurling final
Sunday November 14
Ballyhaunis v Pádraig Pearse’s
Athleague, Co Roscommon
Throw in at 2pm
